By Arun Pratap Singh
Garhwal Post Bureau
Ramnagar (Nainital), 9 Jan: The Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR) administration today successfully tranquillised a suspected man-eater tiger in the early hours following the killing of a 60-year-old woman in a forest area falling within the reserve. This has brought at least temporary relief to the local residents who had been living under a cloud of fear for over a week. The operation was carried out at around 2.30 a.m. after intensive surveillance. The sedated tiger was later shifted to the rescue centre in the Dhela range of the reserve, where a detailed medical examination is being conducted by a veterinary team led by Corbett Park Senior Medical Officer Dr Dushyant Sharma.
Deputy Director of CTR Rahul Mishra said the fatal incident had happened on 2 January when the tiger attacked an elderly woman who had gone to collect firewood in the forests near Sawalde village. The victim, identified as Sakhiya Devi, wife of Chandu Singh and a resident of Sawalde, had ventured into the forest with other village women as part of her routine activity. The tiger reportedly dragged her deep into the forest, resulting in her death on the spot. The incident had triggered panic across Sawalde and neighbouring villages, with the residents expressing grave concern over their safety and demanding immediate action from the forest authorities.
Following the attack, the reserve administration intensified monitoring of the entire area. Camera traps were installed at strategic locations around the site of the incident and a cage was also placed to capture the animal. Mishra said the decision to tranquillise the tiger was taken after repeated appearances of the same animal were recorded by camera traps in the precise vicinity of the attack site. The captured tiger has been identified as a male, estimated to be between five and seven years old, and is presently in good physical condition. To conclusively establish whether this tiger was responsible for the attack, biological samples from both the animal and the deceased woman are being sent to the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in Hyderabad for DNA analysis.
Corbett Tiger Reserve Director Saket Badola said several tigers are active in the broader landscape, but this particular animal was consistently sighted near the location of the fatal incident, strengthening the suspicion against it. He asserted that the capture was carried out strictly as per protocol and only after careful assessment of movement patterns and behavioural cues. The villagers, who had been pressing for the capture of the animal for days, have expressed relief after the operation, though anxiety continues to persist given the frequency of such incidents in the region.
The latest case adds to a worrying pattern of human–tiger conflict in Uttarakhand, particularly in forest fringe areas. The incident is also worrying particularly in the wake of the fact that the captured tiger is young and healthy which indicates that even healthy and fit tigers are now resorting to attacking the humans, something that was not seen to be usual in the past. In recent months, multiple fatal and non-fatal tiger attacks have been reported from different parts of the state, including the buffer zones of Corbett, Ramnagar, Terai East Forest Division and parts of Kumaon, where villagers depend heavily on forest resources for firewood and fodder. Last year alone, several people lost their lives to tiger attacks in and around protected areas, prompting the Forest Department to increase patrolling, deploy additional camera traps and issue repeated advisories to local communities.
The officials have attributed the rise in encounters to factors such as expanding tiger populations, habitat fragmentation, shrinking prey base in certain pockets and increased human movement inside forest areas. The Forest Department has once again urged the residents living near forest boundaries to exercise extreme caution, avoid venturing into forests alone or during early morning and evening hours, and strictly follow safety guidelines issued from time to time. While the tranquillisation of the suspected tiger has restored a measure of calm in Sawalde, the incident has once again underscored the urgent need for long-term solutions to mitigate human–wildlife conflict in Uttarakhand’s tiger landscapes.
